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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography of Retinal Circulation
Published on: September 18, 2012
Traumatic Scars: Evaluation of the Best Timing for Early Intervention With Fractional CO2 Laser Using Optical
Samia Mohamed Esmat1, Mohamed Mahmoud Khafagy2, Bothaina Ashraf Mostafa1
1Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
Background:
No consensus on when to start fractional CO2 laser in traumatic scars.
Objective:
Evaluation of three timings of early fractional CO2 laser intervention.
Methods:
Forty-five patients with facial traumatic scars were randomly divided into three groups. Fractional CO2 laser (three sessions at 4 weeks interval) was started immediately, 2 and 4 weeks after suture removal in groups A, B, and C respectively. The parameters were 25-watt, stack 2, dwell time 800 μs and spacing 1000 μm (5% density). Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were performed at baseline and 1 month after the last session. Patients reported their satisfaction using 4-point scale.
Results:
VSS was significantly improved in group A (p value = 0.001), B (p value = 0.001), and C (p value = 0.003) without significant difference between the three groups (p value = 0.258). Pigmentation was significantly improved only in group B (p value = 0.004). OCT revealed significant improvement in epidermal thickness (p value = 0.001) and scar depth (p value = 0.015) in group B.
Conclusion:
The current work supports early treatment of traumatic scars with fractional CO2 laser, especially 2 weeks after suture removal.
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